CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Last winter, when Democrat Abigail Spanberger won election as Virginia’s first female governor, one of the biggest campaign issues was women’s reproductive rights. A conservative Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and progressive voters were energized to back candidates in the Commonwealth who supported an amendment to the state constitution that would enshrine abortion rights for Virginians.

Spanberger won 56.6% of the vote, a 13-point victory. The amendment will go to voters on November’s ballot. Now, nine months later, another slate of Democratic candidates is hoping that issue drives voters to the polls.

“The passion is absolutely there at the same level,” Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, told Cville Right Now on Monday. “We have not forgotten that our freedoms have been taken away from us.”

McGill Johnson appeared in Charlottesville at a canvassing launch event for Democratic 5th District Congressional candidate Tom Perriello, ahead of Tuesday’s primary elections. While volunteers picked up packets of informational pamphlets and stacks of yard signs, Perriello and Johnson talked about the opportunity they believe Democrats have to take control of Congress in the midterm elections in November – and what can be done to restore abortion rights to women nationwide if that happens.

“We are paying attention, particularly women are paying attention, to not just what’s being taken away from us but where we see opportunities to actually claw back and fight back,” Johnson said. “I think this is one of those races and one of those districts that we can do that.”

Perriello and Johnson addressed the room full of volunteers at Perriello’s Charlottesville campaign headquarters. Afterward, Perriello said he’s heard from voters during his campaign who are concerned about Republican cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and the impact that issues of affordability can have on people’s access to healthcare.

He noted that, in the 5th District, seven counties no longer have an OBGYN and two others recently shuttered their labor and delivery units.

“I think people want to get back to a time where healthcare decisions were made between a patient and a doctor,” Perriello told Cville Right Now. “And I think right now, not just on reproductive care but everything else, people feel that there’s an algorithm or bot coming between the patient and the doctor. They’re rationing care in place after place, particularly in our rural communities.”

As he heads into what he believes will be a successful primary followed by an election against Republican incumbent Rep. John McGuire, Perriello said the issues surrounding healthcare and women’s reproductive rights are just one of a number of kitchen table issues that will lead voters to his camp.

“I think we’re seeing very much that this resonates,” Perriello said. “We’re seeing people feel like the government is intruding in all the wrong places, like people’s bodily autonomy, and not actually intervening where people would like, in things like bringing down gas prices and healthcare prices. I think this is a question of priorities.”